Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to CaF2 translucent ceramics composed mainly of calcium fluoride (CaF2) and a manufacturing method of CaF2 translucent ceramics.
Background
Calcium fluoride (CaF2, fluorite) is a material having excellent optical characteristics such as high transmittance of light in a wide wavelength range from the ultraviolet region to the infrared region and small reflection loss due to a low refractive index. Moreover, CaF2 has excellent thermal conductivity and therefore is very suitable for a laser crystal.
However, CaF2 can be manufactured, actually, only as a single crystal, and there is a problem in that CaF2 is very costly due to a long period of time for crystal growth, a problem in that growth of a large-size crystal is difficult, or the like.
Moreover, careful handling is required because calcium fluoride is a single crystal and easily cleaved, is easily cracked due to a sudden change in temperature, or the like.
In order to solve such problems, a manufacturing technique of manufacturing polycrystalline-body CaF2 translucent ceramics by sintering CaF2 powder is known (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Publication No. 4747587).